Studio: Walt Disney Productions
Distributor: Buena Vista Film Distribution
Produced by: Walt Disney
Short Synopsis
On Christmas morning in a small American town around 1910, Jim Dear gives his wife Darling a cocker spaniel puppy in a hatbox, and Lady grows up a pampered, much-loved pet. Then the couple have a baby, and Lady feels pushed aside. Tramp, a carefree stray from the other side of the tracks, warns her that the baby will replace her. When Jim Dear and Darling go away, Aunt Sarah arrives with her two scheming Siamese cats, who wreck the house and get Lady blamed; Aunt Sarah buys her a muzzle. Lady runs away, and Tramp rescues her and helps her get the muzzle off. He shows her his free life, and they share a moonlit spaghetti dinner behind Tony's restaurant, ending in an accidental kiss over a single strand of pasta. Then Lady is caught by the dogcatcher and learns in the pound about Tramp's many earlier girlfriends. Back home, she is chained in the yard. When a rat creeps into the baby's room, Tramp fights it off, but he is blamed and carted away to be destroyed, until the truth comes out and Jock and Trusty chase down the wagon. At Christmas, Tramp is part of the family, and Lady has puppies.
Why It Matters
- The spaghetti scene behind Tony's, set to "Bella Notte", is one of the most famous images in film romance, and the dog's-eye view of the world, with human faces mostly kept out of frame, is a clever and consistent piece of staging. Peggy Lee's songs and voices, including the sly "He's a Tramp" and the Siamese cats' song, give the film its personality.
- It was the first animated feature made in CinemaScope widescreen, which forced the animators to rethink composition across a wider frame, and the first Disney feature released through the company's own Buena Vista distribution. It was a box-office hit and is now regarded as one of Disney's classics.
Notes and Trivia
- The idea began with the springer spaniel of story artist Joe Grant and a story by Ward Greene.
- Peggy Lee later sued Disney over video royalties and won in 1991.
- See also: One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961), Alice in Wonderland (1951).